Another ‘Outstanding’ result for Consensus in Northamptonshire
Consensus Community Support Limited -55 Headlands, our community supported living service in Northamptonshire is celebrating having been awarded the highest rating of ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission for the second consecutive time.
The service achieved individual ratings of ‘Outstanding’ in all five Key lines of Enquiry; Safe, Effective, Responsive for, Caring and Well-Led. The exceptional result means that the service is the highest rated community supported living service in Northamptonshire as well as one of only 24 with an outstanding rating in all five key areas (KLOE’s) nationwide.
Consensus Community Support Limited supports adults with learning disabilities and a range of complex needs in three supported living environments in Wellingborough, Kettering and Corby, Northants.
October’s inspection involved inspectors talking to eight people who are supported by the service, 15 members of staff, including the registered manager, three service managers and 11 members of the team. Inspectors also viewed a range of records including two people’s care records, multiple medication records as well as records relating to the management of the service.
The report was extremely positive and highlighted that without exception there was a person-centred approach to everything the service offered and there was a real ‘can-do’ attitude to everything which ensured people had a varied and fulfilled life.
Inspectors agreed that staff were highly motivated to support people to achieve their goals and aspirations and feedback from people and their families was overwhelmingly positive and consistent with the theme that people felt cared for and empowered to do what they wished.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People were enabled to take positive risks to maximise their control over their care and support and people’s outcomes were consistently better than expected compared to similar services.
Inspectors reported that people were truly respected and valued as individuals and empowered as partners in care in an exceptional service. Overwhelmingly, people continued to express how happy they were at the way they were treated. One person said, “we are equals, the staff are great.”
Inspectors also noted that staff were passionate about their work and observed that through their interactions with people they continually ensured people were empowered and listened to.
Inspectors reported that service leadership was exceptional and distinctive, with leaders and the service they created driving and improving high quality and person-centred care. Overwhelmingly, people and staff told us they could talk to her and she would also listen. Inspectors also observed that there was a good rapport between people, staff and the registered manager.
During the inspection, Inspectors observed several examples of where the service worked tirelessly to deliver better outcomes for people including securing additional equipment and planning adaptations to a person’s home so that as their physical health deteriorated they could remain in their home as independent as possible. Comments from feedback from families included, “Fantastic atmosphere, always homely, everyone is always out and about,” and “I have nothing but good things to say about the service and the support.”
Michelle Christie, Registered Manager of Consensus Community Support Limited said, “We are absolutely thrilled to have received an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the CQC for the second consecutive time. Since our last Outstanding, we have worked incredibly hard as a team to support opportunity, choice and success for all the individuals living in our service, so we are delighted that this has been recognised by our individual ratings of outstanding in each of the five key areas.”
“It’s all down to the hard work, passion and commitment of the entire team, the people we support and the support of our wider operational and management team across Consensus. Our values are quite definitely what drive us and inspire the way we work and inspire success.”
Eddie Morgan, Managing Director of Consensus said, “I am delighted with the outcome as it recognises not only the huge amount of effort Michelle, the service managers and their teams put in to delivering the highest quality of care and support but also importantly, the exceptional outcomes that individuals supported by Consensus Community Support Services are achieving.”
“It is important that we use this exceptional result as motivation to continue to improve the service and ensure the highest standard of care and support.”